Many millimeter wave systems require high power amplifiers for the transmitter. However, the small size of high frequency devices excludes high input power to a single device as well as the generation of a useful power output. To circumvent these power limitations, many devices and/or amplifiers are combined by a series of power dividers and combiners. In a divider, the input signal power is divided and then connected to individual amplifiers or similar devices. Then, a combiner is used to add the power in phase from the individual amplifier or similar device. The output of these individual amplifiers is then recombined by a combiner. Typically, this combiner at the output of the individual amplifier is simply a divider used in a reverse mode. Traditional power dividers are metallic transmission lines which, as those skilled in the art will recognize, experience significant power loss, radiation loss, cross-talk effects and are expensive to produce at millimeter wave frequencies (due to the small size).
Therefore, there is a need in this art to provide a power divider and combiner which is not as lossy as simple metal transmission lines. The present invention addresses this need.